Former child-star Corey Feldman was grilled by Santa Barbara sheriff Sgt. Deborah Linden about the actor’s close friendship with Michael Jackson. The interview occurred in 1993, as cops conducted an investigation into charges of child molestation brought against Jackson.

On the tape, obtained exclusively by "CJ," Corey repeatedly insists that their friendship was totally innocent, while the cops repeatedly express suspicion, for over an hour.

"Is your belief in him and your love for him getting in the way of you telling us things?" Sgt. Linden is heard to say.

Linden also states, "I’m so concerned that if something happened you’re not going to tell us because it would be so hard to tell us…"

"…No," Feldman insists.

Corey also tells Linden, "You don’t know how many times I have racked my brain and gone, ‘is there something I’m forgetting? Is there something that, you know, I’m thinking didn’t happen but it really did?’ If I could find something I would love to be able to tell you, but nothing happened."

We spoke with noted Beverly Hills defense attorney Jay Jaffe, who observed that, though Feldman certainly sounds believable on the tape, the investigators, "Want to hear what they want to hear, not what the witness wants to say."

[b][Jackson] ‘Kidnap’ Victims Lived It Up[/b] Thursday, February 10, 2005 By Roger Friedman Yesterday there were reports that Michael Jackson’s band of “kidnappers” held a mother and her three kids (two sons and a daughter) “hostage” at the Country Inn and Suites in Calabasas, Calif., in February, 2003. Calabasas is a beautiful, verdant suburb of Los Angeles, replete with million-dollar homes and gated communities. It’s not exactly a back alley in South Central. Several weeks after their expulsion from Neverland and Jackson’s world, the family told a lawyer that the elder son, 13, had been molested by Jackson and that he had also held the family hostage. Prosecutors may have trouble with this episode if they ask the mother or kids exactly what they did during their “hostage” period. I have seen receipts that show the family had a telephone in their hotel room and used it constantly during their five-night stay. They also went to at least one movie at the Calabasas Edwards Cineplex 6, ate ice cream at a Cold Stone Creamery, and had several meals at an Outback Steak House. They walked to all these places, during which time any of the four family members could have asked for help if they were in trouble. “The mother loved Outback and wanted to eat there all the time,” my source says. She also patronized Anchor Blue (a chain store) and shopped almost continually at stores such as Robinson-May, Banana Republic, Wilson’s Leather and Pacific Sunwear. She may have also scored a hostage first when she got a manicure and pedicure for herself and her teenage daughter ($51) before dining at Panda Express.